Night in the Dark Dream
by Cherished Tenshi
Summary: One-shot. After being trapped in the Realm of Darkness for years on end with no one to share the pain with, Aqua meets a new ally, and they have more in common then they first think. Aku/Aqua, if you squint.


**A/N: This popped into my head while I was listening to Night in the Dark Dream, then The 13th Struggle followed afterwards on shuffle, and vola! :) Also, I like the pairing of Axel and Aqua for some reason. (It's my second favourite, in fact, after Aku/Shion.*Hint hint*)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything to do with Kingdom Hearts whatsoever. Thankfully. If I did, well... A **_**lot **_**of things would change.**

**Summary: Set after Kingdom Hearts II. Spoilers. After being trapped in the Realm of Darkness for years on end with no one to share the pain with, Aqua meets a new ally, and they have more in common then they first think.**

**Characters: Aqua and Axel. Duh.**

**Rating: T, because I am **_**very **_**paranoid!**

**Warnings: Spoilers for Birth by Sleep, Days and II. So finish them before you read this!**

**Word Count: 2,247. (Wow...)**

**Please enjoy! This is my first one-shot, so please leave a review behind too!**

**Also, if you have it, please listen to ****Night in the Dark Dream**** while reading this.**

***N*I*G*H*T*I*N*T*H*E*D*A*R*K*D*R*E*A*M***

It was dark. Well, saying that would be putting it kindly. The darkness that was here stretched for miles on end, and no one truly knew just how long and vast the Realm of Darkness was. Few have ever heard of it, fewer have stumbled into it, and even fewer have ever escaped it alive. Or at the very least, with their sanity still intact.

Monsters that are born from the very darkness that breeds here trawl across the abandoned and lifeless grounds that were once thriving Worlds. Worlds that, once upon an ancient time, were full of life, lives of all sorts and different kinds that gathered together. There were many Worlds like this. Many people that live in happiness, taking the little things such as the flowers swaying beautifully in meadows, the sun twinkling brightly in the sky, the cold rain falling down from the very heavens, often known as 'The Tears of the Angels' for granted, without realizing just how much people cherish them when they are gone.

If the Angels could have seen the horrors that had befallen some of the Worlds, they most certainly would have wept.

Large and proud castles, that had once witnessed beautiful dancing and many love-stuck couples together, now watch helplessly as the cruel 'Heartless' tear out the light, salivating it for themselves. Many creatures fight each other in cramped rooms, creatures as small as mice but as big as dragons, just for the rare delicacy known as light. Not rare in other Worlds, but certainly rare in the darkness that lives here.

The end result was that the remains of the Worlds were destroyed. The pillars were wrecked, forced from the ground against their will. Windows that once held stunning ancient designs of beauty, now scattered in fragments of what they once were. Carpets were ripped, wrecked beyond repair.

It was no wonder that this place drove many insane.

But, along the insanity and darkness, there lies warriors of unyielding light.

***N*I*G*H*T*I*N*T*H*E*D*A*R*K*D*R*E*A*M***

Aqua sighed deeply as another wave crashed against the gloomy mixture of sand and tiny stones, before washing away back into the dark sea once more. This cycle of the waves continued, and the female didn't know just how long she had spent here, watching the same pattern repeat over and over.

Her searching for an escape route had been just like the waves. Every time that she had allowed hope to return to her, hope that maybe, _just maybe_, she might just escape from this _hell_, it was smashed into tiny fragments by a new arrival of darkness.

Her travelling had resulted in _somehow _ending up in a peaceful beach where the queer (and dangerous) monsters didn't lurk. She had decided to give up on her travels for a way out. Well, until she had gathered enough energy to continue, that is.

But those minutes soon turned into hours. And then days. The months soon followed...

Before she gave up even resuming and instead chose to just watch the peaceful waves roll in and out, as a sullen moon; the only source of light, even if it was a dark light, that she had discovered so far, bar the queer pulsing blue lights that came from the nearby boulders; shone and reflected off the sea. The waves glistened as they sang their sorrowful song, hitting the sand before returning. If she wasn't stuck in an eternal rotation of hopelessness, Aqua might have thought that the sight was beautiful.

But not today. Probably not ever.

She brought her knees up, so they almost touched her flat stomach and chest, before she flung a loose arm over the knees and resting her head, staring out at the seas. Her cerulean hair hung limply around her face, and her blue eyes that once shone brightly with light and joy, now no longer had that shine, instead replaced with a growing sense of dread and loneliness.

Dread over the fate of the Worlds and her beloved friends, and the loneliness that naturally comes to one that is trapped in a prison, unable to flee.

Her Keyblade and armour, which she had once taken for granted, as they had once come to her almost as naturally as fresh air and food, were no longer with her, sacrificed for the survival of her best friend, the one that she had truly loved with all of her heart.

But now his face had become blurs. She struggled to remember the beautiful blue eyes and the chestnut brown hair and the strength of his arms, him whispering that he would always protect her and defend her; with his very life, if the need aroused.

How the tables turned. She had fought him for _her _life; well, technically _not _Terra; that was his name, wasn't it? She wasn't sure anymore, as the memories had faded away and were replaced, shoved to the back of her mind with memories of darkness and struggles and red eyes and gloom.

And the other boy, the one with... With blonde hair? It was blonde, or was it black? And wide, blue? No, they were _amber_, right? Or were they blue? Aqua wasn't certain; her memories showed different things. One had a cheerful and cheeky smile, while the other only smiled at her sadly and only grew wider as she screamed in pain from his attacks that was cursed on her and... And...

A small figure concealed in black, with the faintest trace of white and silver- Black was a bad colour, wasn't it? So why did she help someone who was covered in that very colour? Aqua shook the images back to the queue of the importance; her long time in this Realm must have damaged her memory somehow. At first, she remembered everything clearly; the laughter and tears, the anger and hatred at foes that dared to drive the three apart, the promise that drove her on to keep on fighting, the two boys that she had met, who's hearts radiated light, the girl who gave her the beautiful bundle of flowers...

But somewhere, somehow, the memories had started to blur together before vanishing altogether. Only a few remained; her most treasured memories, the ones that she knew that she could _never _forget.

"_I can't help it. You two would make the weirdest brothers!"_

"_The darkness doesn't interest me!"_

"_Me and Terra will be back before you know it."_

"_My name is Master Aqua. Return my friend's heart, or pay the price!"_

"_Ven... I'm sorry. I might not make it back as soon as I thought..."_

"_But I promise I'll be there one day to wake you up."_

Promise... She had a promise to keep, and because of that, she refused to be tempted into the darkness, no matter _what_.

The small glow of light that was flickering next to her only reminded her of her friends more.

Terra and... Ventus? Yes, that's right... Ven...

Wait a sec... A _light_!

The teenager stood up, surprised yet hopeful as newfound energy went through her body. Maybe it was a path to escape, or maybe it was someone else, she wasn't really sure. Ignoring this, she almost stumbled over her own feet in happiness as she sprinted forward to the source as it lit up the entire beach with an alien energy, before slowly taking on a humanoid shape. It looked like a tall figure, about the same height as Terra, but it wasn't him; the figure was too skinny for that.

The light started to flicker, before disappearing into small, but plentiful, orbs of white, pure light that floated upwards before growing smaller and vanishing from existence. The figure, which Aqua figured was a man, due to the sheer height of it, started to fall straight to the ground, clearly weak. Aqua gasped before charging forward and grabbing the lanky man with her slim arms. The rest of the light vanished, revealing spiky, unruly red hair that spiked out in every direction, some of it rubbing against Aqua's arm.

And truth be told, it was quite tickly. She struggled to hold in a mad giggle from the turn of events. Someone else was here! She wouldn't be alone anymore!

That was assuming that the figure was actually _alive_. If he was half-dead mind, it was nothing that a Cure spell or two couldn't solve. Hopefully, she still remembered _how _to perform one.

Shaking her head, Aqua focused back on the new arrival, and couldn't help but think that she had gained quite a _dark_ sense of humour during her time here. The redhead had short eyebrows which looked like somehow had either shaved or burnt them off the long half of them sometime, and he had two queer purple markings under his shut eyes, which were inverted tear marks. Odd choice of style to have. His right eye; which reminded Aqua of emeralds or jades; suddenly blinked open, and he groaned loudly before focusing his attention on the female who was grinning widely.

"Um, howdy?" He chuckled as she gasped before her normally pale cheeks blushed a bright red. She lowered him down softly onto the sand below before standing up and offering a gloved hand to help pull him up. The man put a black and tattered looking glove onto her own hand and pulled himself up, brushing off sand from his long cloak. Meanwhile, the female was blushing more than before and could barely stop herself from jumping up and down in happiness.

"I wasn't expecting anyone here." She replied simply, somehow managing to keep her cool as the man focused his eyes on her. He looked up and down at her before crossing his arms and frowning. Aqua cocked her head in confusion and concern. "Are you alright? You look a bit worse for wear..."

Well, he did. His black cloak was in tatters, rips all over it, and he looked _exhausted_, as large black bags were clearly underneath his eyes; an obvious sign of lack of sleep. Much to her surprise, instead of going off into a long quantity of words like she had expected, he simply looked up at the blue head and grinned widely.

"Well, I'm pretty sure that if you sacrificed yourself; basically _killed _yourself; for your best friend, _you _would look 'a bit worse for wear' too." He teased as he rested his hands on his hips, ignoring Aqua's look of amazement as he looked and turned around the area, humming the whole time. "Hmm, I never knew that it was _this _dark. Wonder why Ex-Boss Man always hung around here..."

"_Excuse me_?" She finally blurted out, much to the surprise of the other person. He turned back from his previous view of the sea and looked at the female, a smirk playing on the edge of his lips.

"Well, I said that-"

"No! I mean that I did the _exact same _thing!" She interrupted, shaking her head furiously. The man took a step back in surprise, before furrowing his eyebrows together.

"You look a _lot _like someone that I know. Well, at least I _think _I know... Damn! Why can't I remember?" He started pounding his skull hard, obviously trying to get something out of it. Aqua raised an eyebrow in slight concern as she took a step forward. Maybe he could do with some help... If he took any more steps back then he would fall into the water...

And given that he reminded her of fire... Well, fire and water _don't _mix. But she was _named _after water in some foreign language that people in other Worlds talked. So then, why didn't she want to destroy him?

Odd. And the darkness around him was _quite _strong, but she could sense a strong light radiating from him too. He seemed to balance out the two elements pretty well.

"But her-I _think _it was a she, had _black_? Yea, black hair. Same eyes mind, definitely... _Come back to me! _I don't want to do a Roxas!" After the angry outburst, he sighed before allowing his arms and head hang limply from his body.

Roxas? Who was that?

"Sorry 'bout that. That doesn't happen normally." The redhead faced upwards again and rubbed the back of his sheepishly as an apology. Aqua just shook her head and sat back down on the sand again, staring out to the never-ending sea. The waves continued to play their melody as they crashed freely.

"It's fine." She answered simply, smiling widely to herself. The man opened his mouth to say something, but settled with sitting down on the sand in the same way that Aqua was sitting; knees drawn up, right arm slung over said knees. He followed her gaze, and a peaceful silence followed them, the only noise the sound of the waves.

"Oh, I never got your name! My name's Aqua, and would you like to stick together? Strength in numbers, if you know about the _things _that live here..." She turned around on her knees to the redhead, a hopeful expression on her face as she looked at him pleadingly. The man made a "Hmm?" noise as he turned his head to her, green eyes meeting with blue. Aqua smiled before holding out a hand; one of friendship and hope. He nodded before grabbing her hand once more and shaking it gently.

"My name's Axel, and I would be _more _than happy to stick around with you. Got it memorized?"

***N*I*G*H*T*I*N*T*H*E*D*A*R*K*D*R*E*A*M***

**A/N: I just think that these two would make such a **_**cute **_**pair together! *Squeal* :D**

**Yes, it's crack-ish. And no, I don't care at all!**

**Hope you enjoyed it; personally, I really like it! Hopefully, they were both in-character; if not, then I'm sorry! And I have a feeling that I got the tenses (Past and present) mixed up too. Aw well...**

**About the memory loss, think about it; if YOU were trapped somewhere for **_**11 **_**years, without seeing your friends, you would struggle to remember stuff too! **

**Please review, even if you hated it; I want to get people's opinion on this! Please? :)**

**Thank you for clicking the title, and then taking the time to read this. Really, it means a lot, so thank you! ^_^**


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